Happy Halloween

I'm just not sure we'll ever top this Halloween costume.

Back in early September I was browsing in a children's consignment shop, anxious to outfit my child in snow gear for the winter. I was pawing through a large rack of puffy snow clothes and FFM spied a tiny (and I mean tiny) rack of costumes. He found this one. And latched on to it. FFM does not latch on to stuff. I'm incredibly lucky that we can actually walk in and out of any toy store without temper tantrums. He's very very good about picking up toys, books, etc but understands when it's time to go he's got to leave them at the store.

But this, this was the first and ONLY thing he would NOT release. Boy, says me, I sure hope it's his size and I'm awfully glad it's super cute. I put the top on him, thinking if it fits I can make do even if the pants don't fit, and - Whew! it fits. Then. It. Would. Not. Come. Off. No, not because it was stuck, my toddler decided for the first time ever this was it. NO MOMMY KANGOO STAY ON!!!! There was no removing it. Now, it was nearly 90F outside that day and he's sweating, but this discussion goes on and on and there comes a point (anyone who's been the mother of a two year old knows) where you just say, keep the $*%(@!# (edited for little ears of course) kangaroo on and you're just glad it fits and you're not buying some really ridiculous too big/small thing and you happily go pay for it.

Let me tell you the discussion when we got the carseat and the tail wouldn't fit wasn't so pretty.

So now we're up to Halloween. We did a practice run last week at Lowry Town Center. Grannie Annie came along. We nearly got blown away it was so windy, but it was great fun.

Today FFM got a special Halloween treat from his pal Debi, a new used wagon! Complete with Halloween windmill.

Just to make sure it worked he drove it back and forth to Debi's house a few times.

Then, on to the REAL Trick or Treating! Off through Grannie Annie's neighborhood with our new friend Colin from across the street. He's two, too, and had a great home made Bob the Builder costume.

And because every kid who gets treats should have a trick:

P.S. If you ask FFM what that baby kangaroo is called he'll tell you it's not a baby, it's a joey :)

First Winter Storm Warning

Yes, we've had snow already, but this is a real storm. Schools closed, people stayed home from work, Travis' cousin in North Dakota sent me a message to make sure I had plenty of supplies (and I'm glad she did because I went out and bought flashlights in case the power went out). Travis has been keeping an eye on the Denver news websites and probably has a better idea of what's going on that I do. He specifically requested photos and it wasn't until after dinner tonight that I had a chance to take any.

I can't open the back screen door because there is a drift that's nearly up to the glass of the screen door. That sort of perspective is always hard to show in snow pictures, but you'll just have to trust me. It's about 22" (55cm) from the floor to the bottom of the window which is where the drift is now.
This is from the kitchen window. Last night I attached a ruler to the birdfeeder, that slightly wider black bit at the bottom, and the snow's about 10" (25cm) deep right now. It's in a fairly sheltered spot, no drifting, so it's pretty accurate.

Out the front door. We haven't left the house all day and I didn't see any reason to shovel since it's still snowing. Our neighbor Jim across the street shoveled his driveway, can you tell?

This morning at 8am there were NO tracks at all on our street. By lunchtime there were a couple. By mid-afternoon there were more (I think mail came) AND my other across the street neighbor went somewhere. And must have slid as the tracks come all the way onto the sidewalk in our yard. Look closely and you can see. Check out all the snow on our evergreen bushes, too. I just had them trimmed so they're flat on top, so it's really easy to see exactly how much snow there is.

Ah, but don't worry about us. We turned up the heat a little bit today and are staying nice and cosy.

Just Another October Week

Ah yes, the dysfunctional weather of October in Colorado. Oh, HOW I've missed you (seriously, I have). To be able to go from shorts and flip-flops one day to parkas and snowboots the very next, that has to be truly unique to Colorado.

One day, we had a tea party in the back yard.

And then it snowed. And was grey and sort of yucky. But we got a fair bit of snow, and moisture here in the high desert in never anything to sniff about. I'd guess a couple of inches at least, wet heavy stuff that compacted a lot. Had it been colder the snow would have been fluffier and it would have been at least twice as much accumulation.

Winter clothes are a new experience for FFM. I knit this sweater while we lived in Brisbane (this picture's for Sara H.) and knit it and re-knit it, never getting it quite right. I was going off-pattern to try to make it a little bigger/longer so I'd get the size right for his age and the southern/northern hemisphere seasons and I just never did get it. It ended up being sort of lumpy and big and I just finished it and gave up. Turns out I nailed it for a 2.3 year old who just moved to Colorado! He loves his 'sheep' sweater and I love that it ought to fit him most of this winter. Sara, it's coming your way as soon as it warms up this spring and we don't need it anymore.

And for the grand finale, showing off his full-fledged hiking boots just for Daddy. They are most excellent for puddle and slush stomping.

Just a Little Walk to Get the Mail

Our mailbox is at the end of our cul-de-sac, one house down, and when we turned around today the mountains greeted us in all their fall splendor. What a glorious walk to get the mail.

For our Aussie Friends

This post is dedicated to our Australian friends who always shiver when I talk about snow.

Colorado usually gives you a warning shot each fall. A small winter storm that reminds you that winter really is on it's way, and the nice fall temps of 60F-70F / 15C-21C won't last forever. Our warning shot was this past weekend when a bit of snow blew in and our high temperature for the day was a balmy 25F / -3C.

We're back to sun and warm breezy days again, but that Saturday we ran out to the shops to get winter boots like all the rest of Denver that was unprepared.